For the first time ever we’ll be taking our sale up and down the Pacific. Announcing the Portland Warehouse Sale this Friday, March 4 from 10am – 2pm and Carlsbad is on Saturday, March 5 from 10am – 1pm.

We’ll be clearing out Solly Baby FW15 inventory so most of the wraps will be discounted! ARQ will also be in Portland showcasing the Spring line with major discounts!

Please feel free to bring your families (babies are always welcome), and we will have certified baby wearing educators at both locations. For the Ace Hotel, there is street parking and a pay lot across the street. For Carlsbad, there is a free parking lot on site and street parking around the building.

If you have any additional questions, please email us at pr@sollybaby.com

Having been the recipient of help from friends and family after 3 babies, and the giver many times throughout my mamahood, I’m always creating a mental checklist of ways to REALLY help moms with newborns.

My top 5:

+ Food! When we need it most, but our energy or attention needs to be on other little people and things. A meal, fresh or frozen, healthy but yummy snacks (Trader Joe’s makes it easy), her favorite treat, or some fresh bread or fruit goes a long way.

+ Quick, thoughtful visits! Just showing up can mean the world–check in on her, ask her how she’s feeling, offer to hold the baby while she’s takes a shower; don’t talk about yourself and don’t stay long!

+ A simple, meaningful gift. A candle, fresh flowers, or something useful like some new soap, cozy socks, or a Wrap really help and say “I care” during a big life change. Even better, show her how to use her wrap if she already has one and wants to learn (because this is not the time for unsolicited advice ;).

+ Remember brother/sister. Something for any older children in the house to do, like a craft kit, play-dough, stickers, or Dolly wrap (just like mama) can be a lifesaver when days adjusting at home feel stretched.

+ Be encouraging! Tell her she’s doing such a good job, that she looks beautiful, that her baby is perfect and that you are there to help! That’s all we really want to hear, right?

We cherish every reason to celebrate our little loves well beyond Valentine’s day, but look to this gift guide for our round-up of the sweetest gifts for your baby valentines. Don’t we all live for every extra I love you, kiss and hug, both given and received! xo

As a mom, you and I both can understand the most universal challenge of finding balance. While this comes differently to each of us, Solly Baby’s style is when “mama’s dancin’ with baby on her shoulders,” or when babywearing happily helps us juggle it all while keeping what matters most the very closest.

If “physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness” (-Joseph Pilates), then instructor Jenny Redford of Hello BODY Pilates is helping build a really happy you. With your baby wrapped tight, follow her simple instructions to work as much of the body as possible, “keeping in mind that we don’t want to jostle baby too much and we want to give ample attention to your posture.”

Before you begin —

When returning to exercise, pay special attention to reconnecting to the pelvic floor and deep abdominals. Even though the movement is mostly focused in the lower body, keep your focus on drawing in and up in the belly to initiate each movement. This will help you to support baby and to find your balance. I also recommend wrapping baby a bit higher than usual to keep their little legs out of the way.

I show both an option to do this with 2-3lb hand weights/weighted balls and without. You can opt out of the arms completely to hold baby’s head or you can place your hands on the back of a chair for balance. If you perform it as shown, 3x’s each exercise, alternate sides and repeat the series several times. You can also perform each exercise individually 8-12 times. Finally, if something doesn’t feel right, stop. See you doctor when necessary. Move mindfully always.

Releve / Centering, Balance, Calves
Stand tall, weight in the balls of the feet. Lift and lower heels with resistance.

Passé Lunge + Arm Reach / Balance, Thighs, Glutes, + Shoulders
Bring the right knee forward, sliding the right toe up the leg to passé (as low or as high as you’re able to maintain your balance). Then reach the right leg 2-3 feet back to a lunge. Left leg bends 45-90 degrees, knee over foot. Arms reach forward, palms up. Body hinges to a slight diagonal. From the lunge, lift and press the hips forward over the standing leg as you bring the right leg directly back to your passé. Body returns to upright.

Plié, heel lifted + Arm T / Inner-thighs + Quads
From the lunge, pivot 90 degrees toward your back leg to a wide second position. Legs Rotate outward. Lift the right heel as both knees bend deep to 90 degrees and lift to standing. Arms hold in a T, palms up. The back and chest are broad, shoulder blades reach down. Knees point in the direction of the toes.

Pulse Plié, heel lifted + Arm T / Inner-thighs + Quads
Lower to a deep plié, lift and lower several inches with as much control as possible. Arms hold in a T, palms up.

Side Leg Lunge + Arm T / Balance, Glutes + Shoulders
Legs and feet rotate to parallel. Lunge into the right leg then push off from the lunge and extend right leg; balance on the left leg. Control as you resist back into the lunge. Arms hold in a T. Hips remain level.

When I look back on 2015, I will fondly remember it as the year we finally embraced not having it all together. We spent half the summer on the road in our pop-up camper and then the following four months fighting tooth and nail for a fixer-upper farm we fell in love with along the way. Once we finally got the keys, we celebrated by immediately starting massive renovations with all our belongings stacked in boxes in the barn.

From cool beachside office to taking conference calls in the henhouse and responding to emails amidst piles of sawdust, we chose to embrace our new “normal.” Both Jared and I logged many last-minute travels from coast to coast, never quite knowing where to call home base.

We didn’t get holiday cards out or a “real” family photo taken (thanks for this one, Mom!), we are all sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and we are laying the new hardwoods ourselves- a project I’m still not even sure how we got ourselves into. And, yet, despite all of the chaos and the lack of “normalcy,” we have found peace in each other and happiness in change and growth. Our children have been my examples as they have played and laughed and found new daily adventures throughout it all!

As we have stripped down so much of what I used to see as necessities, I have found four things that I want to carry with me into 2016:

1 — Home is where they are
2 — There is beauty in simplicity
3 — A business can thrive just about anywhere if heartened by hard work, kindness, and a desire to add value to people’s lives
4 — When all else fails, make popcorn (see recipe below) and turn on Netflix

I hope this holiday season brings you and your family together. Whether it was your year to do it all right or the year that everything seemed to fall apart, I hope you are able to embrace what is, find peace in the crazy, and feel good about the work you are doing.

When I was a little girl, my mother would put elvis presley christmas in the cassette player and we would sing along as we decorated our tree. So much love and joy would fill our home. Nostalgia at its finest. I remember sitting on a stool in the kitchen and watching my mom bake cookies with my aunts. My job was to icing the sugar cookies and I would sneak licks from my spoon. They would talk and laugh so much and I would look at them, thinking, nothing is greater than this.

Nowadays, I find find myself doing the very same things my mother did during this time of year. Singing along to holiday music and making sugary messes in the kitchen … keeping rufus close to me in my wrap and letting my older kiddos lick the frosting off of my spatula after im all done baking…

I loved christmas time as a child, but I love it even more as a mommy.

We have an entire season to reflect on the gratitude we feel in our lives, and at the top of that list is our parenthood– the feelings we feel and the lessons we learn and the plain joy we get to live are all so much to be thankful for. Which is why Every Mother Counts is a cause we passionately stand behind. Together, we can make pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother, everywhere. We can all be part of this solution (and this joy) this giving season.